I Ran. #thatisall

Well finally, here it is,  the blog I've been dying to write for 6 weeks 6 days and 16 hours.

I  RAN!

A massive thank you to all my running and non running chums who have kept me going over the last few weeks. I hope I never ever have to return the favour.

It was short - 6.21 minutes of walking and running, but boy was it sweet. Pam the physio got me all sorted and we went for a trot by the beach.

Like learning to walk, those first running steps were amazing, dizzy, emotional. This was a run I have appreciated more than any other I've done, and I will remember I think forever.

It felt very strange at first, like my body didn't know what to do. My feet were flat, my legs were stiff and I was very very unsure it would work.  But then everything started moving and I knew it was going to be okay. What was brilliant that I had a little try at Chi running and .... it works! I've been thinking about it and listening to it for a few weeks and even though only had a little go, I could feel the difference.

I am going to enjoy the return to running. I am going to savour the gradual build up like drinking a very fine wine or a gourmet meal.  Every step, every second is going to be experienced and enjoyed. I will be slow and focussed and strong. I will remember how lucky I am to be able to do it.

I have as long as I want to do build up the speed and distance and that feels good. I am so glad I'm not rushing to do a marathon. My calf muscle will be my guide back to my running form and I will forever remember it when I run. I plan to check in regularly and see how me and that calf muscle are doing.  I will think of a name for it. Rowena suggested a tattoo, I think it might be a mental one!

For now I just want to run forever and never ever be injured again. I don't care if I run a marathon. I am a grateful humble runner. If I can stay like this I will be fine.

The wait is over. I ran. I run.  I am.

Take care, run safe.

Suex

Into the starting blocks

The end is nigh. I am, I sincerely hope, now in the final week of not running. What a relief - for us all I'm sure. You must be as fed up of this as I am!

For all but the first week of the injury I've kept up my exercise routine. At the core have been physio, upper body conditioning and Pilates, gradually built up as my poorly leg could take it. Good for keeping some muscle tone and discipline,  great for staying positive, feeling like an athlete and keeping in touch with the healing process.

This week I got back to the gym - hooray! I got a lovely welcome back from Kevin at Virgin Omni and it was great to be back despite the usual busy-ness of the gym this time of year. I know people complain about gyms, but the joy of being able to exercise again beats all. I'd have made do with a massive hamster wheel if it meant I could run.   There's a machine for everything even for the crocked runner.

My first triathlon - 10 minutes on the bike; 10 minutes on the cross trainer and 10 lengths of the pool. No resistance, very slow, very gradual. Savouring the movement of my limbs and paying close attention to the messages from the muscles - testing, trying. There were as many complaints and grumbles from my non injured leg which rightly feels it deserves a rest after the last 6 weeks of keeping the show on the road.

As my non-running draws to an end, I'm coming to the end of my first reading of Chi Running. A phased running recovery will fit well with the transition to chi running - physically and mentally. I've tried Chi walking and it's helping a lot. Relaxing my lower leg helped me stop limping and start to balance the legs again.

Recovery has forced me to slow down and think about what I'm doing. It also makes me pay close attention to my body and what it's telling me. That damaged muscle lets me know how it's reacting and I am actively listening. A nip slows me down very effectively and that enables me to correct my posture too.

If you'd asked me before I would have said of course I'm listening to my body. I heard nips and niggles, but I wasn't focussed enough on how my body was reacting - not like I am now.  My head knew I was running too fast, but I wasn't getting feedback from the bit of me that does the hard work. I want to keep the focus in future so that as I recover physically I don't just speed up and do it all again.

I plan to treat myself to some new ultra light Brooks. I am going to include barefoot beach walks and runs in my training and I will be running with Danny on the iPod. Cross training is back in, it worked well before and I will continue my core Pilates and yoga.

The external pressures on me to run are removed.  Recovery will dictate my running until I'm back to normal. I will run that marathon when I'm ready, not when I can fit it in with everything else.  I know I can do it, I just don't know when yet.  You know things are bad when they're a learning experience, and this certainly has been an education, but it will soon be history.

Soon I will be off running again. I can't wait to get my legs and buns of steel back - my legs are so soft that the cats have taken to sitting on my lap again.

Friday, I'm back in the race. Today I'm hunkered in the blocks ready to go. No false starts.  Cue the snow!

Happy running!

Take care

suex

Runner Reborn: the end of a dream?

It's been a big week on the recovery front. Physically I am doing great, taking great (baby) strides.  I've braved public transport and climbed from the bowels of Waverley Station to the dizzy heights of Calton Hill.  I've survived the inhumanity of being knocked over by fellow commuters who think trying to hold on is pushing in. (I really would have kicked that man but I'd have fallen over).

I can walk like a normal person for short distances and as long as I don't go too fast or too far.  I've done a few low impact aerobics workouts and Zumba. (I've been really impressed by Jillian Michael's 30 day shred). And of course keeping up the Pilates to keep my core strong and balanced. Physically, I'm getting there.

But as I've said before, the really big thing about recovery is not physical; it's mental, emotional and spiritual (or whatever you call it).   Getting an injury knocks your confidence; it makes you feel like a rubbish runner; it's pants being patient and waiting. Somehow you feel you should be working through the pain and you're a wimp for giving into it.  Coping with the pressures to get out there and run is tough, but like every other hard thing in life, if it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger.

Last week I mentioned I asked my Twitter chums how they avoid injury.  @Pyllon suggested Chi Running; @rowenanews reminded me about the marathon goals that matter more than time.  Well, these seeds have taken root and are starting to sprout and they have made me look long and hard at some stuff I'd been trying to avoid.

In this enforced time out, I have an opportunity to be a better runner. As I start running again, I can start from scratch, using the experience I've gained and the wisdom of other runners.  I can ditch all the stuff I've picked up along the way and that's holding me back.  I need to find my inner runner again. I know if I was running any thinking would be trampled under my bouncing Brookes; but because I am so totally and absolutely fed up with not running, I am very open to anything that means I can avoid this happening ever, ever again.

 Desperation has made me accept a few home truths:

Hard Truth number one.  I'm not going to be in good enough form to run the Barcelona Marathon this year. Fact. I have decided. Whether or when I do a Marathon can wait until I'm back on my feet and running normally again. That hurts, but it has to be so.

Hard Truth number two: I was partly responsible for my injury. Very hard to write that one! I am Mrs Sensible. I read, I prepare, I do as I'm told. How can it be my fault? Of course it's not about fault (!), I just have to accept that there's things I can do to make me a better runner and reduce the risk of injury.

Hard Truth number three: I need to rediscover my inner runner, the runner in me that knows how to train, who knows how to improve. Following schedules and training plans is not the answer, I need to work out what suits me, that probably means running less and cross training more.

It's hard putting it all down in black and white. It's hard to kill your dream, it seems like such a defeat and a failure.  But I want to run forever more than I want to run a marathon in a few weeks time.  I started off well just running in my own way and I got 1/2 marathon and 10k times I am dead chuffed with. Marathon training in a reduced timescale stopped me doing what comes naturally. It was like getting into a very tight pair of trainers and the consequences were dire. I need to get back to that Sue and let her guide my running.

So, onwards and upwards. I am going to use Chi Running to help me find a better way to run, not just technically but inside.  I will do that marathon, I know I have it within me, but I will do it when I'm ready.

I'm hoping to run again soon. I can feel it in my quads. I just hope the sports bra and Garmin are in working order!

Take care and if you're running or recovering, be great!

Suex

The Waiting Room of Enlightenment: Reasons to stay cheerful

Recovery might be a journey, but it's more like a waiting room sometimes. You're just sitting about waiting for that train, plane or automobile to transport you away. You can good use of the time reading, meditating or learning Japanese. You can entertain yourself people-watching or plotting your perfect murder mystery. I think you'd be surprised by how many of the folk at the bus stop are plotting murder and mayhem behind closed lids (or maybe you're not!). Or of course you can rant about late trains; messed up timetables and the general decline of civilisation. The thing about waiting is that you can't control when you move physically, but it can be just the right place to be.

I'm still waiting to run and this train is a long time coming.  I am at that critical point where I'm on the cusp of a little jog, but if I go too soon I will undo my hard work and patience. It is so tempting. I know I'm taking longer than most people do to get back into my trainers and I am feeling such a failure! Yes, even at the time in my life when I am almost certainly paying the price of  too much too soon, I am battling with my speed obsession again and putting pressure on myself to heal faster, dammit!

I want to run. I want to run now. I want to run my first marathon in 8 weeks. Today was glorious day, a fantastic day for running, a good long run. I should have done 18 miles today, totally manageable if I'd not got injured. I am so cross, frustrated, stupid. I'd kick myself if I wasn't scared of another injury!

But I can't run. I can do almost anything but run. The muscle I've ripped is exactly the one that springs me up into the air. All the others - that keep me on the ground, that let me do side planks and toe taps and one legged bridging and squats -  work absolutely fine. It's just that one little muscle. I am sending it lots of love and attention; taking it on little walks to whet its appetite; willing it to get better soon and re join the party - please!

As ever in this amazing world we live in, as I start to despair, the universe sends me gifts. For running these usually come via Twitter. First, Chi Running. Yes, almost a month since I hit the 'send' to Amazon, Danny Dreyer's book on ChiRunning arrived on my doormat and it sits in front of me now. I've looked on the website and flicked through the book and I am really excited and inspired.  On a quick read it's got links with Pilates. I like to have theories behind my training and improving and I'm a big Pilates fan. Pilates got me through some emotionally tough years and helped me manage the chronic back pain I got from being massively fat and massively stressed. Pilates was critical to my body (and spirit) recovering then and has been a constant friend ever since. I have used it a lot over the last month. I look forward to Chi Running helping me through my current recovery and taking me into my new running future. I have high hopes. I am going to read Danny as I travel on the train every day to and from work and I've already started practicing Chi Walking - weird but strangely liberating.

The second Twitter angel was Rowena, one of my running sheroes, who does amazing runs in amazing places and has been massively supportive of me and lots of other hobblers and limpers. Rowena says:

My goals have been pretty simple: finish the same day I start, with a smile on my face, and injury free. 


These are great goals and Rowena reminded me that when I started thinking about a marathon I had no time goals, no pace, no strategy. I just wanted to finish a marathon.  I still do just want to run a marathon and more than ever I want to smile and I don't want to get an injury - that would be failure.  Maybe I could do Barcelona in 8 weeks time, but I won't do it at any cost,  it's not just me that pays the price. Still too soon to be definite, but I have set my parameters.

My third Twitter angel is Johnny, who is also battling an injury. Johnny makes me smile and laugh out loud on Twitter so much that the folk on the train think I'm a mad woman. We both have knackered right legs so can't even do a three-legged race between us.  We will both run again and I hope together, maybe the Edinburgh BUPA 10K again....

So I remain in the waiting room that is recovery, waiting for the train that will take me back to running fitness and onto my marathon.  I would never have taken time out to reflect on my running if I'd not been forced to.  Everything happens for a purpose; every nightmare brings opportunities. I know this is nature's way of telling me to slow down. Not just to run slower (though by gum I've had the choice ripped out of my hands) but also to slow down in setting my running goals when I have so much else to do  A marathon is a heck of a long distance for someone like me and I am not invincible. This injury will probably stop me running Barcelona this year. But it will not stop me from running my marathon and it won't stop my lovely North Berwick runs; Race for Life; the Edinburgh Half and every other bit of running me and Danny are going do do. And it won't stop me smiling!

So, thanks to my running chums on Twitter yet again for making my waiting room a place of enlightenment and discovery. Watch this space for what comes next!

Take care,

Sue


ps if I ever, ever complain about not wanting to run or moan about losing my running mojo - shoot me!

In Recovery - Ready to run .....

A word that's been very much part of my life over the last few weeks is recovery, specifically recovering to run.  For some folk, they get injured, they get better and that's it. But for many of us it's a more complex and less certain process. And it's hard.

Here's what the dictionary says:

Recovery:  a return to a normal state of health, mind, or strength.  The action or process of regaining possession or control of something stolen or lost. Also  recovery shot - golf stroke bringing the ball from the rough or from a hazard back onto the fairway or the green. Football an act of taking possession of a fumbled ball. In rowing, cycling, or swimming, the action of returning the paddle, leg, or arm to its initial position ready to make a new stroke.


There's lots of good stuff in here that inspires me and captures the recovery process for me. Of course it's all about getting back to normal, but I like the idea of taking back control, regaining strength. I like also that it's physical and mental, that recovery is an end and a beginning.  


The definition sounds so positive and active and I need to be more positive about recovery; about my eventual return to running. I need to focus on getting ready to run.


A huge part of my recovery is about regaining confidence. When I first get an injury I am very cautious and self protective. I'm a catastrophic thinker - something happens and I immediately extrapolate the graph to the end of the world. It's a well know psychological problem you'll be glad to know.  So I worry terribly that the injury is going to get worse. I worry that some small movement, slip, accident, knock, will send me hurtling down that ladder; straight to jail, no passing go and it will be really serious this time. I was listening to Desert Island disks where an ex ballet dancer spoke about her ballet injury and how she needed someone she trusted to hold her hand and encourage her to dare to tackle the move that injured her. The confidence to take that risk was a critical part of her recovery. 


So this week, having found the positive things about not running, i.e. enjoying the here and now; I've been focussing on the future; on taking back control and getting a positive running-focussed mindset.  


My strategy is to start off with some easy risk free actions and move up from there SLOWLY - no frightening the horses. Here's what I've done since I last blogged:

• Deleted my old training schedule from my iPhone and calendars
• Done one hour of some kind of exercise every day - including physio, balance; upper body exercises and Pilates. 
• Practiced walking properly - very, very slowly
• Tried to drive - and stopped - ouch! even the thought of an emergency stop hurts
• Changed my thinking as I go down our stairs from re-living the ping to imaging I'm fixed and heading out for a nice long run
• Bought a mini bicycle machine to get those quads working until I can drive to the gym/pool and some new Pilates and workout DVDs 
• Got (and used!) a foam roller and compression tights
• Begun to think whether I want to risk running the Barcelona Marathon even if I am fit or wait until the autumn

Acting positive, even when I didn't really feel like it, really helped. I've gradually upped my risk taking, pushed the calf a bit, but not too much. I'm more in control and recovery is becoming an active thing, not just sitting on my bum (although I am doing a lot of that!).  


I'm surprised how tired I feel. Sometimes I focus on the loss of my Barcelona dream, of my fitness and those good running days stolen from me. Sometimes I'm sad; lost in the rough or abandoned in the sandpit as my running chums do a hole in one and are back in the Twitter clubhouse comparing notes. But that's neither use nor ornament as we say in Yorkshire and of course fine words butter no parsnips!


Recovery, just like running and any other challenge we set ourselves, is about mental strength, discipline and persistence. When I was dieting, I dealt with setbacks (eating the entire tub of ice cream; a nice bottle of Rioja) by just getting back onto the diet and not looking back. Usually I recovered my confidence, focus and drive to lose weight pretty quickly and easily. I need to do the same now for my running, but I don't have quite the control of the biological side of things!


The challenges of recovery are different for every one of us.  I'm a wimp. I need courage to take risks that might well make my injury a bit worse.  Other folk need the discipline not to run with an injury. I need to stop analysing how it all happened and focus on the future. Others need to spend longer learning from what went wrong before they look ahead. What is clear is that recovery is not easy for any of us, it tests us mentally and spiritually and so, like our damaged muscles, can make us stronger.


As I type, I have done my first set of very light calf raises and survived. That was really scary. I still can't walk very well or very far, but it will come.  Will I be able to make up over 2 months lost training and get fit to run a marathon in about 8 weeks when I can't even walk to the train station? Not sure yet, but whatever happens, all will sooner or later be fine.


This post is dedicated to everyone in recovery, whatever your challenge is. May you find the strength, courage, determination and wisdom to get through. And more than anything else, the hope and belief that you will get there.


Take care
Suex

More bad (eating) habits: naughty nibbling exposed!

As I clamber back onto the wagon after an indulgent Christmas I've noticed a few bad eating habits are still around and impeding my return to normal. They are aided and abetted by me being unable to run anything off and of course having what should be running time now available for other things.

Here, in all their shameful glory are my bad eating habits - well not all, just the ones causing problems at the moment:

I hoard food and I hate to throw it away. Christmas is a double whammy for this pair. I've already blogged about my Christmas hoarding instincts so it's no surprise that I have in the house lots of food; lots of rich food. To get rid of it I have to eat it or throw it out.  I was brought up not to waste food, never mind throw it out. This year, for the first time ever, I threw food in the bin (only if the birds or the cats wouldn't eat it!). This is a crime I know, I am ashamed as I type. And of course I haven't thrown it all out (discipline failure!) so there is some temptation at hand.  I am hoping that this experience has been so traumatic that next year I am sensible and don't overbuy, that will remove temptation and set a boundary for the return to normal. 

Family foods are good foods.  As a child I learnt about eating just like everyone else, in the family home and at school. There wasn't much on TV, Fanny Craddock didn't really impact on family cooking and cookbooks were rare. No Biggest Loser for us! Normal eating in the 1960s and 70s was a big roast plus pudding on a Sunday; fish and chips after swimming on Saturday or on the way home after a night out.   Mince and veg almost every night  (though of course veg were soaked overnight and boiled and boiled). Porridge for breakfast. School dinners, meals at other folks' houses and what we concocted in cookery lessons were all the same sort of thing (except the Pineapple Upside Down Cake circa 1969 only found in cookery rooms thank goodness!).  These foods are foods that Mum recognises, that the family ate together, they are comforting in a very deep way.

Food is a reward for hard work. We didn't have many biscuits or chocolates as kids but tea and toast was a treat and a reward to be had at almost anytime of the day or night for almost any reason you can think of.  Bacon and toast was a very special reward, usually for studying hard. I knew I was in favour and a very good girl when I got tea and a toasted bacon sarnie delivered to my desk.  Nowadays, I self-administer the treats. Health and Safety ban toasters at work so I am reduced to chocolate biscuits, but the principle remains in tact.

Diets are bad.  Like many women of their generation, my Mum was always on some weird diet or another - grapefruits, eggs, lemon juice (remember PLJ!). I never really understood why, she always looked slim and beautiful to me. These diets made life tense and uncomfortable.  Despite the diets, Mum also used to nibble in secret.  She'd have a tiny plate at dinner but fill up in the kitchen. We'd sit with big plate-fulls whilst Mum apparently ate like a bird and dieted. This left me feeling greedy and confused about food and portions. How could she possibly survive on such a small amount of food? Was this how women ate? Dad didn't seem to have any problems with eating and he could eat loads. I knew who I wanted to be like!

By the time I left home I had learnt a lot about what 'normal people' - people like my family - ate and about how food worked.  Over the years, I just applied and adapted what I'd learnt. Not surprisingly, I put on weight. I didn't diet and had no workable notion of weight control, so I exercised to control my weight when I got too fed up. The rest as you know is history.

Over the years I did change as I learnt new things and met new people, but I never really changed my basic beliefs about food.  My 'normal' expanded to include broccoli, garlic, butternut squash and aubergines. Out went lard, batter, three course lunches and the top of the milk.  When I started on my weight loss diet, very late in life, things changed.  I had to do a serious shed load of re-learning about healthy food, healthy portions and all the rest of it. It took me a year to begin to make those changes.

The emotional stuff though is harder.  I struggle still with my hatred of diets and I have to crack this.  I know (in theory) that I only need to eat fewer calories than I use for a few weeks, I don't even have it call it a diet! I'm going to have to re programme myself and @nuuutymel and my friend Helen have both suggested I take a look at NLP which I'm going to do (no I really am this time!). 

Similarly, the nibbling. As I type I realise that I don't nibble when watching TV, I nibble when I am working. It's partly that I get up, stretch the legs, stretch the mind, make a cuppa.... and yes, give myself a little foodie pat on  the back for working hard.  

A little while ago a friend told me about a conversation she had with her daughter who was being bullied at school for being 'fat'. At 9 years old, Fiona is not fat, but she is a bit heavier than her peers. My pal Sarah was worried, how to take Fiona's predicament seriously whilst avoiding any suggestion that weight loss was the answer.  Sarah handled it beautifully. They had  a long chat about how Fiona felt and decided that they would both read about healthy eating and exercise. As a result, they both learnt a lot; they had quality time together and now they are both training for Race for Life next year. Fiona is happy and more confident and their relationship is even stronger than it was. Fiona has a fantastic base for healthy living in adulthood.

Children are programmed to learn and they won't just learn what you want them to learn, there are always hidden messages to be decoded. What child ever fell for the 'do as I say not as I do' line!  Nowadays children have many more influences on them and more sources of information - for good and ill. For them it will be about keeping in good shape using self confidence, self belief and self esteem, much the same as for my generation I suppose!

As 2012 gets underway, I'm still not sure what my running goals will be this year, but I do now have some eating habits to sort out.   My two big challenges are getting over my diet phobia and my thing about rewarding myself for working with toast. I'll deal with Christmas hoarding in due course - remind me!

I hope wherever you are you enjoyed the festive season, survived the weather and are back on track for reaching your goals and aspirations for 2012. I hope to be out and running again soon. I will have my foot up for another 2 weeks, recovery is slow, but I will get there. Toes crossed!

Take care

Suex

New Year, New Running Me!

Hello there! Well it's 2012. I hope you had a great New Year and are are raring to go!

When I sat down to blog, I was thinking I was starting the year on the wrong foot - correction - on no feet. I am still 'in recovery' with my foot up a lot of the time.  But, thanks to various Tweeps and others, I am working on my running, preparing for a marathon - I'm having a running makeover. I'm going to use this time to make myself a better runner.  I'm beginning to see opportunities and possibilities rather than a massive gaping running shaped hole in my life.

I needed hope and I got it via great advice and support from @GlasgowOsteo. Daniel helped me get my head round what might lie ahead, and raised my spirits by reminding me that I'd get a personal best however slowly I ran! Thank you Daniel you gave me great advice and that chink of light I needed to see a way through and to start looking ahead.

Then a visit to my lovely local physio - PhysioPlus in North Berwick.  They got me back to running before my half marathon and nipped what could have been a nasty long term Achilles problem in the bud. I knew if I had a chance, they would help me get there.

After the usual prodding and questions, the calf tear is confirmed, but the good news is that it's already started healing and I did the right thing with the RICE - thank you Google!  The site I used was www.sportsinjuryclinic.net. I got some treatment and exercises to keep my ankles from sticking and to keep my proprio-receptors in good working order. I can't do much of anything just now, but I can swim - hooray! Then in a week or so I may be able to do some cycling and then some walking and then.......

It feels good to have a diagnosis and something active to do to aid the healing process, even if it's just to limit the damage that inactivity is causing. It's the passivity of waiting and resting that drives me bonkers - I want to do things and make myself get better and I want to be better now!  I am not a patient person and the weather here is great for running.

I got some very useful advice from @Pyllon, a running hero of mine and a totally great guy. Paul recommended Chi Running as a way to help me get better at running.  As I looked at stuff on the web, it dawned on me that whilst I'm a big believer in running being about the whole body and being in balance, I've been making it up as I go along. I need to learn about running and I know that Chi running is definitely going to help me run better. That made me realise that this is another way I can use this time to run better, longer and stronger - I can learn - and I've time to read the book thanks to the calf strain. Thank you Paul!

So, I am now training with my feet up and a book and an i-pad in my hand! I've my Women's Running and Runners World mags next to me and Chi Running winging its way to me. I have universes full of tweep-wisdom at my finger tips. How can I fail!!

Just like running, recovery is better when you recover with others. Too many tweeps have injuries just now and I really wish I had a magic wand to make them better.  We keep each other going. @RunningJoeInJax and I have been chatting about our similar injuries and how we're getting on.  Joe runs in Florida and is a bit further on in his journey, but it really helps to share the pain and the joy of recovery and keep each other on track. Thank you Joe, I'm right behind you, we'll get there!  Thanks to the many many Tweeps who've been cheering me up and commiserating too.

I do believe that everything happens for a reason and I'm going to use this time off my feet to make me a better runner. Some of it I know already. I need to re define 'rest' more robustly after long runs. I'm  going to try some post run compression and I've  had a very kind offer from @tryingtriathlon to share his compression tights with him, thanks Miles! There's things I can do to reduce the risks that build up round cold weather, long runs, the ageing process and being very busy. But I need to look more deeply at my running and I think the Chi Running will take me to that new level of runner hood.

I'm a little bit optimistic about Barcelona, even though my time would be much, much slower than I was originally hoping for. I'd settle for just getting round. But I'm not going to build up my hopes too much. As they say - blessed are those who expect nothing for they shall not be disappointed. There will be other marathons, but I've only got one right leg and I want to run until I drop!

As well as reviewing my running and my training, I can do other sports and this is a last opportunity to have a non running life before the end of March. I must make the most of it!  In particular, although Ali and I can't go for walks, we can swim together and go to the pictures. We've really got into board and card games this winter - anyone who crosses our threshold has to play at least 3 games of Uno and Stramash!  I can blog (don't worry, I don't want to bore you all too much!), and I've been catching up with Tweets which has brought me much laughter and support.

Plus, I've some great books to read - I think I've read 1.5 books this year - shameful! I never get enough sleep (and for some reason I am really tired since the injury which is weird, endorphin withdrawal I assume).  So I can get some zzzs in. I have some unfinished cross stitches somewhere too.  So I've got plenty to do until I can get back to training - a nice mix of running/marathon preparation and making time for other things.

There's a Shakespeare quote that often springs to mind: I wasted time, and now doth time waste me (Richard II).  I might not be able to hold back time, but I am determined not to waste this time with 'what ifs' and regret and focussing on the one thing I can't do. Life's too short and none of us can afford to waste a moment.

So here's to a fantastic 2012! I hope it brings happiness, health and joy, and you are blessed with family, friends and whatever you need to get you through.

Take care

Suex